THE OLDTIME STRINGBAND CHICKEN CROWS FOR DAY

2014 – Self ReleasedFive Dutch men and an American lady sounds like a cue for a joke, but believe me, this is no comedy act. I’m always very pleasantly surprised to hear people that are not from the U.S playing music that originates from there. Alright, you can argue that it actually originated from all over the known world and was transported to the U.S by the immigrants and you would be right; it’s something I’ve often written about. The point is that the early days of recording thrust upon us, or the people around at that time, a small variety of generic strands which for arguments sake was pop, plus ‘hillbilly,’ ‘race music’ and jazz, the only roots genre that still bears its original name. These strands probably all started from the immigrants whether going willingly to the US or as slaves, after which people from other races and countries heard the music and added their influence which continued until those early days of recording and beyond. We often, sometimes unconsciously, look back at those times as a stage where fully formed genres appeared but if you take away the huge imprint of recorded music all of these various genres were and still are in transition and constant evolution. The point is that our only provable reference point was the early 1920s so the rather dubious point that the hillbillies invented country music generally, however unrealistically, holds sway, although much of that development has taken place in the US, which brings me back to the surprise that non U.S natives can play the music as well as the ‘originators’ and with a powerful authenticity. Yes, that’s right, I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still am!Shelly O’ Day is the one woman in the band and hails originally from California, where the band have just finished a successful tour, although she has lived in Holland for about twenty years. To say she is a talented vocalist is a huge understatement but she also plays guitar, autoharp, Cajun-triangle and wrote two of the songs. The five Dutchmen are Ton Knol on guitar and vocals, Ruud Spil, banjo and vocals, Nout Grupstra plays Cajun accordion, fiddle, vocals and singing saw as well as having written one song. Nico Keereweer is on fiddle and vocals and Nico Druijf plays upright bass, vocals and singing saw. Whilst on the duets the two vocalists, irrespective of whether they are Shelly and Ton or Shelly and Nout, are perfectly attuned, stylistically they are at opposite ends of the vocal spectrum so that duets take on an instantaneous feel of the old male and female duets that often had such an appealing discordancy many decades ago. Much of what we read and are taught tells us that discordancy is bad; but if used properly it can have huge appeal and imbue a song with a tremendous depth of character that many lack. Instead of the pure harmonies we are used to hearing in ‘mainstream country’ it is incredibly refreshing to hear people who are expert singers, but whose vocal blend can be heard to be working a little against each other. On the old songs their arrangements are slightly different to the originals bringing a nice touch of individuality and the few band written songs blend seamlessly with the old songs, bringing a nice sense of continuity.The performances are all excellent and give the impression the band are having a great time playing music together, which they no doubt are. It is so easy to imagine many of these performances having been recorded at a ‘hoedown’ many decades ago! Shelly who takes most but not all of the lead vocals seems to have the ability to conjure up an old timey rawness or classic folk, Cajun and probably most other roots genres at the drop of a hat, with the men not being far behind in versatility. The album gets under way with the traditional Sandy Boys which starts with an atmospheric banjo and fiddle before Ruud comes in with an evocative ‘hillbilly’ vocal that could have come straight out of the old time Appalachians, at least in timbre if not in terms of his accent, with some warm band harmonies. This is followed by Far Away, an excellent banjo and fiddle led song, with a lovely vocal from Shelly on what seems an old folk song but was actually penned by its singer! Home is a really good version of the Holly Tashian song that because of the male and female duet vocals has a really appealing slightly discordant old timey feel, with the instrumentation led by banjo and fiddle on a hugely evocative tale that feels as if the performance comes from many decades ago, such is the feeling of authenticity. I still find it difficult to accept that Nout Grupstras Fare You Well My Bonny was not written and performed back in the 1930s. It is another excellent old timey duet that has a lovely authentic feel despite its newness, with the duet vocals shared by Shelly and Nout. We find a similar ‘old time’ feel with the Shelly penned High Sierra and her beautiful lead vocal on a ‘traditional folk song’ that could have been recorded now or 80 years ago such is the stylistic ambiguity, with a Cajun accordion giving a real ‘downhome’ atmosphere. Dance, Dance, Dance gets under way with a nice acoustic guitar intro soon joined by bass, banjo, fiddle and accordion on a Neil Young song given a makeover that changes its focus to a modern Cajun/folk feel with lovely blended harmonies and male lead vocal. Finally Pretty Saro is subjected to Shellys powerful rendition of the classic trad song accompanied by only fiddle, on a version that has rarely if ever received a more evocative reading. All in all this is an exceptional fifteen song recording that should make those who believe this music can only be made by people whose first language is English think again. The all round quality is quite astounding at times, even including a couple of excellent attempts at Cajun music and this is the point, they are unafraid to try anything and when they do try, they invariably succeed and because of their feel for the music everything on the album is enveloped in an often spooky, deep old timey atmosphere. Despite the fact that some will think the album has too many cover versions, they should actually be giving the band huge credit for doing their bit to keep the old music alive. When you add the fact that several of the songs are band originals that blend seamlessly with the albums concept there is very little to complain about. Add a Neil Young cover that has received a complete makeover and it is easy to see why the band have started to receive so many accolades. If they keep this quality going many more will follow. http://www.theoldtimestringband.nl/